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Do not fill this in! ==Number of visitors== Times Square is the most visited place globally with 360,000 pedestrian visitors a day, amounting to over 131 million a year.<ref name="TS ped counts">{{cite web |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business-here/market-facts/pedestrian-counts/index.aspx |title=Times Square Pedestrian Counts, Times Square Alliance |access-date=October 4, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006070418/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business-here/market-facts/pedestrian-counts/index.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> {{As of|2013}}, it had a greater attendance than each of the [[Disney theme parks]] worldwide, with 128,794,000 visitors between March 2012 and February 2013, versus 126,479,000 for the [[Walt Disney World]] theme parks in [[Bay Lake, Florida]], in 2012.<ref name="TS ped counts"/><ref>[http://www.aecom.com/deployedfiles/Internet/Capabilities/Economics/_documents/2012%20Theme%20Index%20Combined_1-2_online.pdf Global Attractions Attendance Report, TEA/AECOM]{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Published June 10, 2013.</ref> Even excluding residents from the visitor count, Times Square is the world's second most visited tourist attraction, behind the [[Las Vegas Strip]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/most-visited-attractions_n_4858066 |title=The World's 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions |newspaper=[[HuffPost]] |date=February 26, 2014 |access-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221192228/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/most-visited-attractions_n_4858066 |url-status=live }}</ref> The high level of pedestrian traffic has resulted in $4.8 billion in annual retail, entertainment, and hotel sales,<ref name="TS Economics">[https://web.archive.org/web/20120517033129/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business-here/market-facts/economic-impact/index.aspx Times Square Economic Impact Update, Times Square Alliance / HRA], March 2012</ref> with 22 cents out of every dollar spent by visitors in New York City being spent within Times Square.<ref name="TS Economics"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nycgo.com/assets/files/pdf/New_York_City_Tourism_A_Model_for_Success_NYC_and_Company_2013.pdf |title=New York City Tourism: A Model for Success, NYC and Company, 2013 |access-date=May 16, 2014 |archive-date=August 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822211629/http://www.nycgo.com/assets/files/pdf/New_York_City_Tourism_A_Model_for_Success_NYC_and_Company_2013.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ===New Year's Eve celebrations=== {{See also|Times Square Ball}} [[File:Times Square ball.jpg|thumb|right|The Times Square Ball in 2007]] Times Square is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop. About one million revelers crowd Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebrations, more than twice the usual number of visitors the area usually receives daily.<ref>{{cite web |title=Times Square Alliance β New Year's Eve |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130114060259/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/new-years-eve/index.aspx |archive-date=January 14, 2013 |access-date=April 21, 2010 |website=Timessquarenyc.org}}</ref> However, for the millennium celebration on December 31, 1999, published reports stated approximately two million people overflowed Times Square, flowing from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue and back on Broadway and Seventh Avenue to 59th Street, making it the largest gathering in Times Square since August 1945 during [[Victory over Japan Day|celebrations marking the end of World War II]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://timessquare.nyctourist.com/ |title=Times Square New York City, New York City Times Square |publisher=Timessquare.nyctourist.com |access-date=April 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217043448/http://timessquare.nyctourist.com/ |archive-date=February 17, 2010}}</ref> On December 31, 1907, a ball signifying New Year's Day was first dropped at Times Square,<ref name=TSLNY /> and the Square has held the main New Year's celebration in New York City ever since. On that night, hundreds of thousands of people congregate to watch the [[Waterford Crystal]] ball being lowered on a pole atop the building, marking the start of the new year. It replaced a lavish fireworks display from the top of the building that was held from 1904 to 1906 but stopped by city officials because of the danger of fire. Beginning in 1908, and for more than eighty years thereafter, Times Square sign maker [[Artkraft Strauss]] was responsible for the ball-lowering. During World War II, a minute of silence, followed by a recording of church bells pealing, replaced the ball drop because of wartime blackout restrictions. Today, Countdown Entertainment and One Times Square handle the New Year's Eve event in conjunction with the Times Square Alliance.<ref name=TSLNY /> A new energy-efficient LED ball debuted for the arrival of 2008, which was the centennial of the Times Square ball drop. The 2008β09 ball is larger and has become a permanent installation as a year-round attraction, being used for celebrations on days such as [[Valentine's Day]] and [[Halloween]].<ref name="TSLNY">{{cite web |url=http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye_ball.html |title=Times Square Alliance β New Year's Eve β About The Ball |publisher=Timessquarenyc.org |date=November 11, 2008 |access-date=April 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011053316/http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye_ball.html |archive-date=October 11, 2011}}</ref> The New Year's Eve celebrations are usually overseen by thousands of police officers. Aluminum barriers are erected to accommodate spectators; for the 2020 celebration, attended by a million people, barriers were erected from 38th to 59th Street and from Sixth to Eighth Avenue.<ref name=nyt20201230/> Typically, the celebrations create large amounts of waste. The waste includes the 3,000 pounds of [[Biodegradation|biodegradable]] [[confetti]] dropped at midnight, a tradition of which started in 1992.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mestel |first=Spenser |date=December 28, 2018 |title=How to Dump 3,000 Pounds of Confetti on Times Square |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/nyregion/how-to-dump-3000-pounds-of-confetti-on-times-square.html |access-date=February 6, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The [[New York City Department of Sanitation]] estimated that by 8 a.m. on New Year's Day 2014, it had cleared over {{cvt|50|ST|LT t}} of trash from the New Year's celebration, using 190 workers from their crews and the Times Square Alliance.<ref>{{cite news |title=Crews Clean Up Times Square After New Year's Celebration |url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/01/01/after-party-in-times-square-comes-the-cleanup/ |access-date=December 30, 2014 |publisher=CBS New York |date=January 1, 2014 |archive-date=December 31, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231002506/http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/01/01/after-party-in-times-square-comes-the-cleanup/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ===Impact of COVID-19=== [[File:Times Square - 49874280633.jpg|thumb|An empty Times Square, May 2020]] The onset of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in New York City]] during 2020 reduced the number of people traveling to Times Square. About 108,000 pedestrians visited Times Square each day in late 2020 compared to the 380,000 before the pandemic. From March to October 2020, 26 of the area's 46 hotels closed, as well as 39 of 151 stores and 84 of 162 restaurants.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kilgannon |first=Corey |date=December 1, 2020 |title=Without Crowds, Is Times Square Really Times Square? Take a Look |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/nyregion/times-square-nyc-coronavirus.html |access-date=July 1, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819060221/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/nyregion/times-square-nyc-coronavirus.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Times Square was closed to the public for New Year's Day 2021 and observers were dispersed into enclosures measuring {{cvt|8|by|8|ft}}.<ref name=nyt20201230>{{Cite news |last=Gold |first=Michael |date=December 30, 2020 |title=No Crowds, but Times Square Ball Drop Is Still Happening. Here's How. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/nyregion/times-square-ball-new-years.html |access-date=March 27, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423190155/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/nyregion/times-square-ball-new-years.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first1=Dan |last1=Fastenberg |last2=Allen |first2=Jonathan |date=December 31, 2020 |title=After a year like no other, New York's Times Square empties out on New Year's Eve |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-year-usa-idUSKBN2951MU |access-date=March 27, 2021 |archive-date=August 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826042232/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-year-usa-idUSKBN2951MU |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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